Shuili Longshen Tunnel

This abandoned road tunnel once led onto Longshen Bridge (龍神橋) over the Zhuoshui River (濁水溪) on the road from Shuili to Neimaopu (內茅埔) in Xinyi. It originally opened in 1939 as the first and only completed stage of a Japanese colonial era plan to improve access to Jade Mountain (玉山). According to local lore the hillside is a dragon vein (龍脈) and excavation was obstructed until a ritual was performed; this, in turn, gave the tunnel its name, and likely explains why the interior now houses an abandoned folk shrine built long after it closed. After the road was realigned and the bridge rebuilt this tunnel was partly concealed by hillside engineering works. Nowadays it shelters a large population of bats but remains trivially accessible by climbing the embankment. Additionally, what appears to be an old bridge pier is visible on the riverbed below the northern portal.